Rodney, I would love to have some Red Twig Dogwood seeds. I have a neighbor who grows Red Currants and Elderberries. He's been begging me to pick fruit, so I can easily get seeds for you for at least those two. I'm just starting to repopulate my 2-acre city lot with native shrubs, so don't have fruit-bearing bushes yet. Email me and I'll email you. Martha

Oh dear, so sorry it's taken me SEVEN YEARS to reply to your comments! I'm back with another update. My beloved dogwood is still with me - as Mike noted, chopping it down did not get rid of it. Though, it did take a couple of years before new shoots started emerging. By that point, I was so impressed with its resilience that I let it do its thing. I've let it grow on and off every other year or so since then. Last summer, the shrub grew to a glorious large size and the aphid swarm was correspondingly large (black, winged aphids). It was the worst I've ever seen it - they were attacking even the mature leaves. I had to prune the shrub down to the ground as it was becoming a sticky, aphid-covered mess. To answer some of your questions: - I do not fertilize nor water this shrub at all, yet it grows lush and healthy all on its own - I live in the northern part of Zone 8 (British Columbia, Canada) - Dogwoods are native to this part of the world so it's well suited and thrives here - I've tried a ladybug release in the past, but they didn't stay on the shrub - they were pretty much all gone by the end of the day! - I haven't tried the other beneficial insects yet - willing to consider them but only have a small budget - money's very tight right now - Sorry, I didn't snap any photos of the infestations... but I will try to remember to next time it happens I'm quite sure I'm giving this dogwood the care it should get... so I'm absolutely confounded by the aphid infestations!! Any other suggestions?

Sometimes I wonder about myself and other times there is no doubt. I also am growing Cornus 'Bailey's Red Twig' which grows very tall and is a glowing purple red in Winter. The large one died mysteriosly. Perhaps that is why I did not bring it up, but I took one branch and made it into foot long cuttings before there was even a sign of trouble and put them in a pot of soil. Two weeks ago I took them and planted them about, each with a huge mass of roots. They seem fine. The terrible disease affecting dogwoods seems to be only attacking C. florida and I have lost the most mature of the many growing around in the woods.

Lisa2004, you could take some softwood cuttings, probably towards the end of this month, and onward. You just remove the top 3-4" of a branch, strip off the bottom leaves, trim back the top leaves by half, dip the stem into some rooting hormone for softwood cuttings, and then put it into a small pot that has freely draining moist potting soil (or propagation mix, if you can find it). Cover the cuttings with a plastic dome or bag, and place it in a shady spot. It should stay green and healthy looking and start to pull roots in 6-8 weeks. However, you will have to baby it through the winter. Alternatively, you could try layering some branches. By next year, they should have rooted and you can sever them from the parent plant.